Category Archives: Eco Dyeing

since last year I have been saving the skins and pits in the freezer with intentions of dyeing fabric and laces and such (I did paint some dye on papers too but I am getting ahead of myself)…

I tried a couple of different ways of making a dye bath with the avocados…

the first way was to plop a bunch of skins and pits into an 8 quart soup pot covering with water simmering for about an hour or so (thanks to Judy Bidwell for sharing thishelpful link with me)…

I would definitely cut up the skins and pits for this method next time … I got excited (can you see my sunshine cup reflected in the pot?) …

with help and encouragement from several friends (thank you Kim Gibson) I also tried a second method fermenting cut up skins and pits in ammonia and water for about a week (no picture of the jar with the mixture brewing and my photo above did not capture the delicate rose color of the “after” pillow case pieces very well)…

as with all kinds of eco dyeing the process is full of surprises because of all the variables…

using an assortment of text rubber stamps with a foam mat underneath

I stamped on some of the plain dyed fabrics…

which created some fun pieces all inspired by a lovely swatch of text stamped avocado dyed fabric thatmy friend Jan DeBellis shared with me last year…

~♥~ wishing you a happy T day along with everyone over at Elizabeth and Bleubeard’s ~♥~

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last year around this time I had so much fun playing with natural dyes and eggs using some leftover dye for fabrics too (there arephotos and examples here)…

it was an exciting process and the eggs turned out so beautifully we did not have the heart to eat them all…

so we tucked a carton of eggs marked *2013* in the very back of our fridge (actuallyIdid the egg tucking 😉 Mr Magpie knows by now to proceed with caution with an eye out for unexpected things in the fridge like homemade gelli plates and such not intended for eating)…

over time these hard boiled eggs will completely dry out and become “permanent” egg decos …

I got the idea to petrify eggs back in 2000 … last year I found a couple of those cartoons of eggs that were stashed out of sight on top of a tall cupboard in my art room…

I had heard that you could leave fresh eggs out undisturbed and over time they would dry up and could then be used for crafting…

I did try the natural plant and dye technique on the thirteen yearold eggs above last year and it worked nicely when I weighted them down in the dye bath …

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Mr Magpie recently brought home two bags of onion skins and thus began a wonderful two day+ adventure eco dyeing eggs AND fabrics...

last year I used onion skins, beets and turmeric to dye eggs but resorted to food coloring for some blue and green…

this year I went all natural using two kinds of onion skins, beets and red cabbage and could not be more pleased with the results and surprises all along the way…

here is how I did our eggs starting with Martha Stewart’s fail proof method of hard boiling eggs so the yolks stay a pretty yellow with no green coloring at all…

using squares cut from nylons to help press the items I selected against the egg to act as a resist I tied the bundles securely with a twist tie to help hold everything in place (you can tell how excited I got about this by my run on wording trying to tell you about it all)…

after filling one pot with yellow onion skins (pulled from 10-12onions at the supermarket thanks to my Mr Magpie!) and a second potfor red onion skins I added about 4 cups of water to each pot (not covering the skins completely) along with 3 Tablespoons of white vinegar …

bring the skins and water to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes or longer straining liquid from the plant material (rubber gloves and paper to protect your work surface are a very good idea)…

soak bundled eggs in the dye liquid in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight…

the eggs needed to be handled gently after removing them from the nylon wrappers and dabbed dry to keep from smudging the dye giving them a chance to dry completely undisturbed…

Love the golden glow the yellow onion skins gave the eggs…

the resist pattern flopped on one of the red onion dyed eggs above on the left (I tried layering threads from ripping a second hand eyelet dust ruffle which made great fabric for dyeing) so I gently dabbed the egg with a paper towel leaving a wonderful mottled finish…

who would guess that red onion skins would turn eggs into rich chocolate colors…

on day two I chopped up the beets for one pot and the red cabbage in a second pot following the same cooking directions as I did for the onion skins…

as vibrant as the beet dye turned out the eggs stayed a soft color…

interesting green colors emerged which is a bit mysterious because no greenery was used in the beet dye bath at all…

the red cabbage had the biggest WOW reaction for me leaving me to wonder HOW it could dye the eggs beautiful shades of blue while fabrics turned gorgeous shades of lavender using the same cabbage dye bath…

the lighter colored blue eggs were soaked for several hours

and the darker blue were left in the cabbage dye overnight in the refrigerator …

as you can tell I was more than delighted with this entire process…

only one egg cracked during cooking which was a good way to test the yolk which was done to perfection…

I could do an entire post on the fun of using up the leftover dyes for fabric scraps, laces and doilies and such…

but I have gone on long enough here…

if you are interested in learning more about the possibilities of dyeing with natural plant materials try searching the internet for “natural dyes” and prepare to be amazed…

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked” ~Bernard Meltzer

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indigo … cochineal … Osage orange … these were some of the natural dyes that the talented Kim Gibson gave a talk on … followed by a hands on demo last week …

being a big fan of the color blue … indigo especially intrigued me … it is perfect for over dying fabrics giving them a common thread … if I had taken notes I would have some proper technical terms here … but you get the idea

it is always special when you can spend time with passionate people … someone who Loves what they do … Kim is a very talented and generous artist … full of information and inspiration

at first I thought I would just watch and listen … then realized it would be silly to miss the chance to play …. luckily since the gathering was held in our local fabric store … there was plenty of cotton to buy … I used white and off white for each of the pieces I am showing here

I took a good yard or so of dyed fabric pieces home in plastic baggies to dry

tying a couple of loose knots made these great patterns above

and the Osage orange strip of fabric didn’t thrill me quite as much until I scrunched and squeezed one piece of the deep indigo around it before drying it … I learned a lot and had a great time in the process … Kim Gibson teaches fiber arts classes at our local G Street Fabric stores

a couple of days later I needed some watermelon red wool for a project so I thought I would give dying with Kool-Aid a whirl …

I have wanted to try it ever since I saw Dot’s beautiful array of Kool-Aid dyed wool roving … still sorry I did not snap a picture of that … but you know how it is when you get in the room with lots of creative people … the energy levels are high and it is all very exciting … that’s my excuse and I’m stickin to it 😉

… while Kool-Aid is not exactly “natural” in my view … you can do the dying in a regular kitchen pot

it was quick and easy and silly me buying just one package of the mix (we never were big Kool-Aid drinkers at all what with all those names we couldn’t pronounce in the ingredient list) … be sure you use unsweetened 😉

the pale color yarn on the left was an afterthought … but as you can see the pieces put in the pot before it … sucked most of the color out already … playing with dye and fabric is chuck full of wonderful surprises

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"the 'L' in Love should be capitalized" ~♥~Patty Szymkowicz .....
Virginia, USA

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